To be gobsmacked at this letter from the school?

[sellisx]

My little sister who lives with me, came home yesterday with a note from the school to say, they are now starting to do their homework on emails. So instead of handing in a written homework piece, it'd have to be e-mailed.
That sounds bad enough but then goes on to say that "they should probably use Gmail as it has a spell checker"
:O I just can't fathom this. Surely spell checking isn't cheating?

Eh?

How old is she?

depends on her age.

no idea!

Strange. You mean produce in word then save and send via email? Even then gmail wouldn't be scanning the document for spelling errors........

Was that a typo and you mean is cheating?

I think you mean 'is' cheating - in which case I'd say not really - it's normal to email homework now and I always spell check things I write - why shouldn't kids?

I assume the work had to be typed/copied directly into the email program, not sent as an attachment?

Yes. Spellchecker = cheating!

What age is she?

Do you mean it is cheating?

Yeah I meant is cheating, if a child cannot spell and then uses a spell checker, the teacher isn't going to notice that the child can't actually spell
She's 8, I don't even know if I want her having an e-mail address at 8yr old

Spellchecker = cheating

Or is it an aid to ensure accuracy?

I suspect many adults use spell check at work to help them with spellings they are unsure about - or have got wrong.

So what is the "cheating" going on? I could use a calculator to do a long multiplication - or I could do it by hand.

How does she practise her handwriting then? Sounds ridiculous. Tell them she doesn't have an email address and you will continue with her writing it.

I think that's pretty poor to be honest. I could understand it at 11yrs upwards perhaps, when they go to high school but not before. Plus, not every household has Internet or access to a computer.

if a child cannot spell and then uses a spell checker, the teacher isn't going to notice that the child can't actually spell

We use Word / Powerpoint to do homework on occasionally. If the word comes up red, DS won't ignore it.

However - DS's spelling by hand will be picked up in class.

Is the homework objective spelling related or just writing?

So all the kids have to either have a computer at home or parents have to take them to a library every evening along with all other DC and thats if parents are even out of work before library closes.

Just writing in related but future homeworks will have to be sent in over e-mail, so typed on a computer

Google won't allow you to open an email address until you are 13 so she would need to use somebody else's.

8 is very young - I thought she'd be secondary

Don't let her have an e-mail address, let her use yours to sent it in. Ridiculous of the school to do this IMO

I am a teacher and I am really surprised at this and I can't see how it will work. For a start, not everyone has a computer! It is also really important for children to actually hand write work.

Spellcheck isn't cheating, it's just the same as using a dictionary to check your spellings,

No it isn't. Most 8 year-olds would click on the first word in the list.

Checking in a dictionary takes far more thought (and more than most children can be bothered with unless they have to do it).

In fact if I were you, I would voice your concerns.

Is it a private school? Certainly so far as I know it is drummed into state school teachers that they mustn't assume that every child has access to a computer.